Since the release of Arena for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, there has always been that idea of evolving into an e-sport competition. Incase you are unfamiliar with the e-sports scene and what this really means, it is basically a name given for both computer and console games that have a high competition level in tournaments play, both online and LAN. Some popular games which have evolved into big e-sports consist of; Counter-Strike, Halo series, Quake DM, Unreal Tournament, Starcraft, Warcraft III, and so on. As you may notice, all of these games are either First Persona Shooters (FPS) or Real Time Strategy (RTS) games. WoW is neither of these formats; rather it is considered a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). So the idea of it being a legit e-sports game has been in question. But just like e-sports has evolved over the years, why not evolve even more and add such a series of games. Not to mention, the Arena play of WoW is more fast paced like an FPS game and this section of the game may not be considered an MMORPG, but instead a mix of FPS and a Fighting game. No matter the game type however, the WoW Arena scene has definitely made a name for itself in competition, but has recently slowed down.

Season one of Arena was an interesting one, not only was it kind of a beta for the Arena play with seeing how certain classes need to be buffed and nerfed, but it also introduced a very anticipated Blizzard hosted tournament. With the success of Startcraft and Warcraft III Blizzard tournaments, a lot of high hopes were put out for this tournament. The format was pretty simple, it basically took the top 1-4 teams from each Battlegroup, depending on the size of it, and put them on US realm event server where all of the teams would queue up against each other, which in turn was suppose to be the best of the best. They did this for US, EU and Asia. One early fault of this system however, was the fact that teams who were on top just stopped playing, and weren’t forced to play many games a week just to stay on top. However, when it came too it, things were still looking great for the tournament, there was some very highly thought of teams on the US realm server including; Powertrip (Pandemic), Overrated, The Fighting Mongoose, PvE Clickers, The Hukhuk’s. Everything seemed to be lineup for such a great tournament hosted by Blizzard, and high hopes were in place for the future of WoW arena.

Then, it happend. And by it, not the tournament, but instead news that would greatly hurt the view upon the Blizzard hosted tournament. An announcement was made that several players on many of the top teams competing in the tournaments second round were going to be disqualified for the regional and world finals. The cause of this was the lack of corresponding information on a players account and credit card information for players to get to the regional’s, which was going to be held on LAN in San Diego, CA. Teams such as Overrated were completely crushed by this new found rule, as 4 of their players were disqualified making them in-eligible. Teams such as Powertrip however, were hurt also, as in their case their Priests was unable to attend due to the disqualification. Because of this, the tournaments hope was tarnished and many followers who were excited to spectate it were turned away knowing that it truly wouldn’t represent the best of the best. Although there is much debate on why Blizzard would do this to their own tournament, they did have their reasons for enforcing it. The tournament still was to be played however, and I was personally able to attend it. There were still teams, such as The Fighting Mongoose and The Hukhuk’s who were at full strength, so there was still some appeal. It was entertaining watching the matches being played live, but only to an extent, as the speculating system of no first person, and the horrible commentary from people who seemed to not even have played the game, really hurt its chance at a successful tournament despite its weakness coming in.

With a very disappointing Blizzard hosted tournament behind the community, the future of WoW arena as a competitive game looked very grim. This is where The World Series of Video Games (WSVG) stepped in however and took over the organized tournaments. Although it hosted several other games as well, WoW arena was where the highlight of the tournament was focused, and these tournaments were no joke either. The WSVG decided to change it up a little bit however, and decided to run a 3v3 format instead of the 5v5 format at the Blizzard tournament. The first of The WSVG tour took place in China, where very few European and US teams attended not knowing what to expect, especially after the failure of the Blizzard tournament. The tournament however was very well ran and despite some minor technical difficulties, it was very well put together and revived what seemed to be a dead e-sports community for WoW Arena. Team Pandemic, despite being one of the few teams from outside of Asia, won the tournament in dominating fashion, and their name also grew within the community. The next WSVG tournament was scheduled to come to the US, in Louisville, and the anticipation for another successful tournament was in place. Again, it did not disappoint, and although Pandemic won once again, many high quality teams attended, and was very entertaining for all spectators both there and online. With another tournament in Dallas and then Toronto, The WSVG seemed to be the clear resurrection of WoW arena competition. With about a month before the Los Angeles tournament however, a grim discovery was made at www.thewsvg.com. For reasons that are still unknown and not clear, The WSVG was suddenly canceled for the entirety of the scheduled remaining tour. Again, a halt was brought onto the progression of WoW arena on a competitive playing field in e-sports.

There are two sides to e-sports however, one being the tournaments and the players in them, and the other being the spectators. A lot of successful e-sports such as Counter-Strike bring a very spectator friendly aspect to themselves. They have what is called HLTV, which allows viewers from around the world to connect to a single match as its being played and watch live, from any point of view they wish, whether it be first person or just and head over view. Although Blizzard has progressed with some of its spectator options for tournament play, it still has a long way to go until it will be spectator friendly, and this is a huge strain on the drive to become a competitive e-sport. Also, the hard to gain access to tournament hosted servers with pre-made characters just so you can play the game makes it difficult as well. Unlike other games both computer and console, there is a lot more preparation involved in getting a WoW Arena tournament setup then most. Simply put, the game-play is there for a successful e-sport, but the spectator and organizational aspect of the game simply is not on par yet. There is still hope for the e-sports community of WoW Arena, as The World Cyber Games (WCG), has put WoW Arena as a future option for its tournament play. There are also ideas for online tournaments going around, which in theory sounds great but might face some difficulty; however it’s the effort that counts. There is much room for improvement for WoW Arena to truly become a successful e-sports competitor, and although the past has been shaky, the future still can hold success for it. As a community, we just have to hang in there and hope for the best.

Tags: Rants

12 Responses to “World of Warcraft Arena as E-Sport? - A Quick History”

1. mnemonic Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 12:48 pm

   As much as i want wow/arena to be a successful e-sport, i dont think it will. Think about counterstrike or halo, you dont have to be a player/pro at the game to understand whats going on.

   Imagine someone completely new to mmo’s and arena watching a 3v3 or 5v5 event. Just a bunch of flashing lights and people chasing eachother around. Without knowing whats going on, id imagine it to be pretty dull or even stupid.

   The only way i could see it being successful is if it went down to 2v2 brackets to avoid confusion among the audience. It would also allow a better commentary since less is happening at the same time.

2. Magog Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 1:11 pm

   On a related note:

   Quick note on Gameriot tournament: We are negotiating with Blizzard and a private PTR is VERY, VERY possible. Instead of doing the first tournament half-baked, you can expect some very good news next couple of weeks. Please be patient, I strongly feel this is worth waiting for. -Ming

   It’s good news to hear that Blizzard is working with this, a tournament thats mostly about the players and fans.

3. Rofl Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 3:11 pm

   The Championship Gaming Series hosted by DirectTV has 2v2 WoW Arena along with its CS:Source and other games. In 2008 they are drafting 2 extra players per team to play competitive 2v2 WoW arena on national TV on DirectTV.

   Source - http://www.thecgs.com/

4. Not Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 3:22 pm

   #3 Exactly! The CGS is really the future for WOW, if everything turns out good there we will probly se alot more of WoW tournaments coming up in the future.

5. nevermore Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 3:26 pm

   While I agree with mnemomics view, also note that WoW is the most popular video game in the world, so quite a number of people will know whats going on in a WoW PvP setting.

6. Jimdigi Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm

   In respons to Mnemonic.
   To outsiders it’s very likely they don’t find it the least bit entertaining, but I think that counts for all games.
   At least, as far as I’m concerned, I’ve never enjoyed watching competitive play from games I hadn’t played myself.
   Ofcourse I understand that some dude is great at it because he shoots his opponent straight in the face. But if you would have played the game, know it inside out, know how the maps work, know how the recoil of a certain gun works, etc, only then you can understand the skills of a player to the maximum. What I’m trying to say is that the majority of genuine interested watchers have been playing the game and know at least to some degree how it works. The WoW community is large, there are tons of PvP vids online that are watched by millions of people. I think with some cooperation from Blizzard, it could work. And I hope it will.

7. Magog Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 3:58 pm

   Re: http://www.thecgs.com/

   Speaking of CGS, we will have a special feature with someone involved with the CGS verrrrry soon… Stay tuned!

8. Morgan Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 4:14 pm

   I agree with the first comment somewhat, they have touranments in warcraft 3, noobs get owned, good players win. (sorry I base all my PvP comments to war3 ahah but i was a top solo player)

   It would be the same in wow, I’m sure they will have some sort of competition hosted online by blizzard, as there is already a ladder with ranks (gladiator). That alone shows that there is a demand for players to rank up and be serious, so there will most probably be tournaments and such.

   As far as the noobs getting owned? Well im afraid its one of those never ending cycles in gaming, they are never going to understand and the more foddor, the more ranks =] I thank all noobs for easy wins xD

9. Morgan Says:
   November 1st, 2007 at 4:16 pm

   sorry to double post, but I also in relation to brackets, I think 3v3 would also be good, 5v5 is where guilds and teams would carve up any pug that doesnt even use a microphone.

   Im hoping it will be 2v2 and 3v3 based, as War3 has Solo, 2s, 3s vs tournaments, but no 4s. Just only have one bracket would be rather, dull I reckon.

10. Belu Says:
    November 1st, 2007 at 5:05 pm

    Hmm, i sorta agree. But i would prefer seeing 3v3 and 5v5, because 2v2s are boring in my opinion, especially for spectators. The top teams are mostly locks+healer and warriors+healer, not giving the tournament much variety, and the games can go on forever - longer than 3v3 and 5v5 games easily. I can see your points about 5v5, but 5v5 is my favourite bracket, but 3v3 is also good - I would like to watch these tournaments.

11. Anonymous Says:
    November 4th, 2007 at 9:19 pm

    In Korea, many corporations such as Pringles, Gillette (owned by Proctor & Gamble), or Samsung back pro-gaming teams. SKTelecom has a very nice team headquarters and probably pay the gamers the most. Im Yo-Hwan is paid $250,000 USD a year! (Average Korean StarCraft pro makes $50k-100k a year if corporate sponsored, and $20k-30k if not.)

    If corporations supported e-sports outside Korea, not only would e-sports flourish with pro-gaming as a viable full-time job, but it would become something to watch on local TV!

    www.teamliquid.net is a solid example of an English speaking StarCraft community that covers current Korean StarCraft pro-gaming news.

    Pro-gaming World of Warcraft isn’t limited to Korea as StarCraft is because pretty much everyone in the world enjoys it. I strongly believe we’ll be seeing heavy E-Sports competition outside Korea within three years from now.

12. Ted Cook Says:
    March 10th, 2010 at 11:04 pm

    All in all I do not make comments on blogs, but I have to mention that this post really forced me to do so. Really nice post

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